


the reindeer and the snowman

by ofstormsandwolves



Series: Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas Tropes [3]
Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Christmas Party, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstormsandwolves/pseuds/ofstormsandwolves
Summary: When Joan has to attend a family Christmas party, she decides to bring Zoey along as her date. But it turns out that not every family member is happy about that...
Relationships: Zoey Clarke/Joan
Series: Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas Tropes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058432
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	the reindeer and the snowman

Zoey Clarke was halfway through an _Outer Limits_ marathon when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She frowned to herself as she got up off the sofa, sparing a glance at the clock on the wall. It was nearly nine on a Wednesday night. A really weird time for someone to be stopping by unannounced.

But apparently, the timing wasn’t the only thing that was really weird, as she opened her apartment door to find an anxious Joan on her doorstep.

“Joan. Hi.”

“Hi, Zoey. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Joan was wearing her nervous smile, the one she wore when she was trying to be social but wasn’t entirely sure how to actually be social.

Zoey blinked. “N-No, no. Uh, you wanna come in?”

She stepped out of the way then to allow Joan access to the apartment. Joan stepped inside, looking around but saying nothing. Zoey swallowed nervously.

“So, uh, what can I do for you?”

Suddenly, Joan’s gaze was back on her, the nervous expression still on the older woman’s face.

“Well, I was hoping you could do me a favour,” Joan said. “I mean, you can say no, of course. That’s why it’s a favour. But, well, I have this thing, it’s a personal thing, a family thing, coming up, and it’s the first family thing I’ve had to go to since my divorce. And my family is insisting I go- God knows why, I hardly speak to any of them- and I was wondering if you’d come with me?”

Zoey gaped at that, still trying to process exactly what Joan was saying. “You want me to go to a family get-together with you?”

Joan nodded seriously. “Yes.”

“Um, why, exactly? I mean I get it, you haven’t seen them since the divorce, but why do you need me to go with you?”

The slightly strained smile was back. “Well, Zoey, it’s like this. My cousin is very, _very_ annoying. And she likes to play matchmaker. In fact, she wanted me to go to this Christmas party to match me up with her husband’s friend. The problem is, _I don’t want to date_ her husband’s friend. Or, well, anybody, for that matter. But my cousin, surprise surprise, isn’t the sort of person to take no for an answer-”

“Oh, really? Does it run in the family?” Zoey muttered under her breath.

Joan either didn’t hear her, or chose to ignore the comment. “So I thought maybe if I told her I wasn’t interested in dating men, that might put her off. What I didn’t realise is that apparently, me liking women is a surprise to exactly zero members of my family, so instead I had to tell her I was already with someone.”

Zoey nodded slowly. “Sure. But I still don’t know why you need me?”

“You’re the person I told them I’m dating.”

As everything finally clicked into place in Zoey’s brain, she could only think of one response to what Joan had just said. “Oh. Sh-”

* * *

Zoey was halfway through working on a line of code when her phone buzzed. It had been several days since Joan had turned up on her doorstep asking her to go to a festive family get together as her fake girlfriend, and she still hadn’t quite wrapped her head around the fact she’d said yes. Of course, Joan was her friend, and she wanted to help, but the whole thing sounded mad. Pretending to be in a relationship with Joan just because of her family? Something about it made her chest feel funny and her mouth go dry.  


It was because it was ridiculous, right? It was because it would end in disaster and they were going to get caught out and have to explain themselves to Joan’s family. It was because it was a bad idea, and it was a bad idea only- _only_ \- because of the aforementioned reasons. Nothing else. No other reason for it to be a bad idea at all.

She shook herself, picking up her phone and seeing that it was the lady herself calling.

“Joan?”

_“Reindeer or snowman?”_

Zoey blinked. “Um, what?”

An exasperated sigh on the other end of the phone. _“Reindeer or snowman?”_

“What for?” Zoey asked.

_“Your Christmas jumper.”_

“My what now?”

 _“Zoey,”_ Joan sighed again, _“were you even listening to me the other night?”_

Honestly, everything after she’d agreed to be Joan’s fake girlfriend was kind of a blur. There’d been a lot of talk about when the party was, and what to expect, and how Joan would pick her up from her place, but Zoey couldn’t remember any specifics.

“Uh, sure I was, Joan.”

The silence on the other end of the phone told the young coder that the older woman hadn’t bought that lie for a second.

 _“My family Christmas party,”_ Joan explained then. _“We all have to wear ridiculous Christmas sweaters and if you don’t show up wearing one, my cousin_ always _has spares. So I figured I’d order some sweaters for us so you don’t get stuck with something awful. So. Reindeer or snowman?”_

“R-Reindeer?” Zoey said then, frowning a little. She couldn’t imagine Joan belonging to any family that had an annual Christmas get-together that involved awful Christmas sweaters.

_“Ok. And you’re still good to be picked up at around six on Saturday?”_

“Yeah, I am.” Zoey nodded even though she knew the other woman couldn’t see her.

“Alright. Well, uh, I’ll see you then.”

And as Joan ended the call, Zoey was starting to realise there was more to the woman than met the eye.

* * *

True to her word, Joan pulled up outside Zoey’s apartment building at six on Saturday evening. Zoey had been waiting on the sidewalk, and quickly slid into the SUV when it came to a stop. Joan was in the driver’s seat, hair perfectly coiffed and wearing an expensive-looking overcoat. 

“Your sweater’s on the back seat,” Joan said in way of greeting, already pulling back out into traffic. “It’s hideous, of course, but Sarah will only complain otherwise.”

“Sarah?”

“My cousin.” There was a pause. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Zoey. I, ugh, I hate doing this. I managed to avoid going for a few years, mostly thanks to the fact my family all thought Charlie was an ass, which he was, but it got me out of going to this stupid get-together.”

“Your family didn’t like Charlie, huh.” Zoey couldn’t say she was surprised. Joan’s ex wasn’t the friendliest of people, and he certainly didn’t seem the type to go to a party that involved cheesy festive sweaters. Then again, neither did Joan.

“No,” Joan laughed a little at that. “He was always too arrogant for them, liked acting too superior. And he’d... Well, you saw the way he’d talk to me. He didn’t like it that my family would ask about my work rather than his. Couldn’t stand the idea of the spotlight being on me for a change. I went alone for a few years, made up excuses for him. You know, he was working late, something had come up, he had a meeting early the next day or was out of town for work. But this just isn’t his sort of thing, never was.”

The two women lapsed into a long silence then, and several minutes passed. Zoey stared out the window, surveying the world outside with a slightly furrowed brow. She’d never even realised Joan had family in San Francisco, had always assumed that any relatives were back in North Dakota where Joan had been raised, or in other states. She couldn’t fathom the idea of being so close to family but never seeing them. 

Finally, they came to a stop in a pretty suburban street not too dissimilar from the one Zoey had grown up on. Joan cut the engine, and sighed loudly, before unplugging her seatbelt and twisting round to grab two packages from the back seat. She read the labels and then thrust one in Zoey’s direction.

“Here.”

“Oh.” Zoey took the package, and opened it carefully, revealing the Christmas sweater that Joan had picked up for her. Quickly unclipping her own seatbelt, she pulled her coat off and struggled into the sweater. It was a dark blue, with a cheerful cartoon reindeer face on the front.

Joan, meanwhile, was busy still grimacing at her sweater, and Zoey nearly laughed when she saw it. Joan’s own jumper was the same dark blue but instead of a reindeer there was a snowman face.

“Don’t say anything,” Joan said warningly, not even looking to the young coder. “I swear, Zoey, if this ends up in the fourth floor Slack or Whatsapp group, you’ll regret it.”

Zoey said nothing, and instead mimed a zipping motion across her lip with her fingers. Joan rolled her eyes, pulled off her coat, and struggled into the awful sweater. Then, she reached into the back seat once more, grabbed her purse and a gift bag containing what looked like a bottle of wine, and climbed out the car. The younger woman followed suit, and soon they were walking up the steps of a pretty house that was decked with fairy lights.

“When you said you were buying sweaters, this wasn’t what I was expecting, you know.” Zoey said conversationally as Joan rang the doorbell.

The older woman gave her a look at that. “Well, anything tasteful would have made Sarah offer us her own sweaters, and there’s no way I’m doing that again.” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, there was nothing wrong with that Fair Isle sweater. It was Gucci, for god sake!”

Zoey frowned. “Gucci make Fair Isle sweaters?”

But before Joan could respond to that, the door was flung open and they were greeted by an overly cheery woman with the same dark hair and blue eyes as Joan.

“Joanie!”

Joan gave a tight smile at that. “Sarah. Merry Christmas. Uh, here.” She thrust the gift bag at her cousin.

Sarah seemed unfazed by her cousin’s awkwardness, most likely used to it, and took the gift bag with a warm smile.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that, Joanie!” She turned her attention to Zoey then. “And you must be Zoey! I’m so glad you could make it! And your matching sweaters are adorable! Come in, come in.”

And with one final panicked glance between them, Joan and Zoey stepped inside.

* * *

Joan’s family weren’t really what Zoey had been expecting. Honestly, she hadn’t had much to go on, besides the conversation she and Joan had had about her mother’s death. But it turned out that the older woman had a smattering of cousins, most of whom seemed to be married with kids, and they were all cheery and chatty and eager to introduce themselves to the unfamiliar coder.

It took several minutes for them to even make it out of the hallway, having been greeted by and Zoey introduced to a good three or four cousins of Joan’s. And everyone was wearing ridiculous Christmas sweaters, just as Joan had said.

“Hey, Zoey, why don’t we go grab ourselves a drink?” Joan suggested just as she spotted another of her cousins approaching.

“Uh, sure,” Zoey managed to get out, before Joan had grasped her by the hand and led her through the house.

Apparently she knew her way around pretty well, and was damn quick about getting to where she wanted. In less than thirty seconds, they had avoided several family members and Joan was busy pouring them both a healthy amount of scotch. Thrusting one tumbler at Zoey, the older woman downed her own drink quickly before pouring another.

A little wide-eyed, the younger woman sipped at her own drink, and looked around the kitchen diner.

“So,” Zoey said quietly, leaning closer to Joan so she wouldn’t be overheard, “your family seems, uh, nice.”

Joan snorted at that, and downed a considerable amount of her second drink. “Sure. If you like cutesy, touchy-feely people.”

A man a few years older than Joan approached them then, a broad smile on his face. “Ah, Joanie! You’ve found the scotch I see!” 

Joan gave a tight smile back. “Daniel. It’s good to see you. Merry Christmas.”

“And you, Joan.” He moved forward and gave Joan a hug then. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t return it. Then, Daniel pulled away and looked to Zoey. “And you must be the famous Zoey! I’m Daniel, Sarah’s husband.”

“Oh, uh, good to meet you-” Zoey was cut off as Daniel pulled her in for a hug too, and all she could do was stand awkwardly until he let go.

“It’s great you two could join us! I mean, I know you’re both probably very busy, and I’m sure Zoey has family to see too-”

Zoey paled a little at that. She’d been trying not to dwell too much on the fact the Clarke household would be missing a special someone this year at the dinner table. She swallowed thickly, and downed a large mouthful of scotch. Daniel didn’t seem to notice her sudden change in demeanour, but Joan did, surveying her friend with a worried frown. A glance to her told Zoey that Joan was watching her carefully, her expression one of concern and concentration, as though she were deciding what to do. Then, she turned to her cousin-in-law and forced another smile. 

“Daniel, I’ve just remembered I need to talk to Zoey about something.” 

Then, for the second time in five minutes, she threaded her fingers through Zoey’s and quickly led her from the kitchen.

* * *

The downstairs was thoroughly occupied by chattering adults, sullen teenagers, and noisy kids, and so Joan tugged Zoey up the staircase. They took shelter in a cosy but plain bedroom, and the moment the door was shut, Joan rounded on the young coder.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” Zoey forced a smile. “Yeah, I just... My dad, you know. Daniel saying about family, it just reminded me about my dad, and how... How he’s not gonna be there this Christmas.” She felt her throat close up a little at that, and she drew in a shuddering breath.

Joan let out a quiet sigh, and moved Zoey towards the bed. “Sit.”

“This is someone’s room. I don’t want to mess up the bed.”

“It’s a guest room, Zoey. Besides, it’s not like you’re dirty. Geez.”

Zoey sat down then, and Joan cautiously sat beside her.

“I’m sorry for forcing you into this.” Joan’s voice was quiet, and she stared straight ahead as she spoke, like she couldn’t bear to look at the young woman beside her.

It was Zoey’s turn to frown then. “You didn’t force me.”

A harsh but quiet laugh then. “Ok. But you have to admit this is stupid. I’m a grown woman. I’m acting CEO of SPRQ Point. And I can’t even come to a stupid Christmas party with my annoying cousins alone.” Her voice began to rise, but Zoey wasn’t entirely sure she noticed. “No, instead I have to drag along the only friend I have and tell everyone we’re dating.” Joan cut off abruptly, shook her head. “And I didn’t even stop to think about what this Christmas meant for you.”

Zoey sighed. “Honestly? If I wasn’t here with you, I’d either be at home worrying about the fact Christmas is only a few days away, or I’d be at my mom’s. _Also_ worrying about the fact Christmas is only a few days away. So really, the only thing that would change is the location. But being here with you... It’s not bad, Joan. A bit weird, but not in a bad way.”

Finally, Joan looked at her. There was a hint of a smile on her face. “Not bad, huh?”

“I mean, your family’s a bit...” Zoey shrugged off, searching for the right word.

“Nuts?” Joan suggested.

“No,” the coder shook her head. “They’re just very friendly. And chatty. And that’s not a bad thing, I just... I can see why you were anxious. I think they mean well, but they all seem very, I don’t know, open about things.” She shrugged, not entirely sure she was explaining herself. “And you’re not that sort of person.”

“With you I am,” Joan said, apparently unthinkingly. Her cheeks flushed red then, and her eyes went wide before she glanced away.

Zoey blinked, not entirely sure how to respond to that. So instead, the pair of them sat in awkward silence for a long while.

“I guess we should go back downstairs,” Zoey said finally.

Joan let out a small sigh at that, but got to her feet anyway. Then, she turned to look at the younger woman. “And you’re sure you’re ok with this? If it’s too much, or too weird, we can leave. Seriously, Zoey, you’ve done enough for me this past year.”

“Hey,” Zoey smiled, “that’s what friends are for, right?”

Something seemed to flicker in Joan’s eyes then, something like a flash of disappointment, but before Zoey could fully process it, the brunette was forcing a smile.

“Right.” She nodded. “Now, as much as I find Sarah annoying, she’s a great cook, so we should go eat before all those annoying kids beat us to it.”

And with that, Joan led the way out of the room.

* * *

By the time they’d been at the party an hour, Zoey was feeling very much like a small puppy or an anxious child with the way she was following Joan around the house. She’d met pretty much every family member of Joan’s still alive and in the California area- which turned out to be almost the whole family- and had struggled through questions about hers and Joan’s relationship too many times to count. But it was as they were approached by an elderly couple while at the buffet that Joan stiffened and froze. With everyone else she’d been uncomfortable and awkward, but this was something new.

“Joan?” Zoey looked up at her friend in concern.

“Zoey, I can only apologise for what’s about to happen,” she said lowly, before plastering on a fake smile. “Uncle Bob, Aunt Carol, great to see you.”

“Joanie,” Carol greeted with a smile, before looking to Zoey and furrowing her brow a little. She schooled her expression quickly, though.

“Uh, this is Zoey, my partner,” Joan said then, looping an arm through Zoey’s.

Zoey was still holding a plate of food, and she very quickly realised she wouldn’t be able to shake their hands. But as she glanced around to try and find a table to put her plate on, Bob and Carol started talking. They seemed pleasant enough, Zoey supposed, although she couldn’t shake the feeling that she hadn’t made a great first impression. It didn’t take long for the pleasantries to be exchanged and the conversation, as it had with every other conversation that night, turned to Joan’s and Zoey’s supposed relationship.

“We never _did_ like that Charlie,” Uncle Bob said, nodding furiously at his wife’s previous statement. “They way he’d talk to you, Joanie.” He looked to Zoey then. “You know, our Joan is no pushover, and it hurt to see the way Charlie treated her. He never had her best interests at heart.”

“Uh, Uncle Bob-” Joan began then, before being cut off by her oblivious uncle.

“Now, you seem like a lovely young woman, but I do hope you understand that our Joan’s a softie under that hard exterior of hers.”

Joan was looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole, an agonised look on her face that Zoey hadn’t seen since she’d sung to Danny Michael Davis. Meanwhile, both Bob and his wife Carol had gone silent, looking at Zoey expectantly. Apparently, they wanted an answer.

“Oh, uh, absolutely!” Zoey wrapped an arm around Joan’s waist then and squeezed, hoping to sell the idea of them as a couple slightly more to the older couple opposite. “I mean, I only want what’s best for Joan, you know?”

But as she spoke, the young woman realised that the slight furrow was etched into Carol’s brow again.

“Oh, I’m sure you do, dear.” Carol turned to Joan then. “Joan, sweetheart, can we talk to you privately?”

With her arm still round Joan’s waist, Zoey felt the older woman stiffen.

“Why?”

Carol’s smile was stiffening with every passing second. “We’d just like a quick word.”

Joan frowned. “Uh. Ok.” She looked to Zoey. “Is that ok with you?”

Zoey nodded, forcing a smile onto her face and trying to ignore the clenching feeling in her stomach that told her that she’d somehow messed up. She could only watch as Joan was led away by her aunt and uncle, and with a sigh she turned her attention back to her food.

* * *

“What the hell’s going on?” Joan demanded as she was led into the hall.

“Joanie,” her uncle said warningly.

Joan scoffed. “I’m nearly fifty. I think I can say ‘hell’.”

Her aunt and uncle shared a look.

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” Carol said cautiously. “This girl you’re dating-”

Joan’s gut churned at Zoey being described as a ‘girl’. “Woman.”

“Woman, then,” Carol corrected. “This woman, she’s awfully young. And very pretty. And Joan, we don’t want to see you get hurt again. Seeing the way Charlie treated you, how he’d walk all over you, it was awful. The woman you were when you were with him was not the Joan we had watched grow up, was not the girl your mother raised.”

Joan looked away then, clenching her jaw. Bringing her mother up was a low blow. And a moot point too, considering Joan and Zoey weren’t even together. But something about them rejecting Zoey made frustration bubble up in her chest.

“Is it really that?” Joan asked loudly. “Is the problem Zoey’s age, or Zoey’s _gender_?”

“Joanie,” Bob placated then, “we don’t care who you date as long as they make you happy-”

“Then what’s wrong with Zoey? If she makes me happy, who gives a damn about her age? I mean, Charlie was my age and all he did was make me miserable, so it’s clearly not the key to happiness!”

“Joan, you’re yelling,” Carol said then, tone painfully similar to one a parent would use to scold a child.

That just made Joan angrier. “Who cares if I’m yelling? You’re the ones who wanted to have this conversation! And, by the way, you still haven’t answered my question. Are you bothered by the age gap, or the fact I’m dating a woman?”

“We’ve known for years that you’re, ah, what’s the word?” Bob scrunched up his face as he tried to think.

“Bisexual,” one of the teenagers piped up from the couch in the sitting room.

“That’s it.” Bob snapped his fingers. “Joan, we’ve known for years that you’re bisexual. Known it since you were a teenager. And, I’ll admit, we weren’t entirely happy about it then, but after seeing all that pain Charlie put you through, we just want you to be with someone who loves and cares for you.” He sighed. “But Zoey’s young. She might not be looking for the same thing you are, the same level of commitment-”

“Oh, so now you’re an expert on my love life?”

“We’re just concerned. You seem to really love her, we can see it in the way you look at her, and we’d hate to see you get your heart broken again.”

Joan didn’t quite have an answer to that. She was still hung up on her uncle saying he could tell her feelings for Zoey from the way she looked at the young coder. But she didn’t... She couldn’t...

Did she love Zoey?

As a friend, of course. As the person who had helped her see that she could- and should- walk away from Charlie? Absolutely.

Perhaps the question wasn’t ‘did she love Zoey’, but more ‘was she _in love_ with Zoey’.

Joan swallowed thickly at that. There was an answer already barrelling towards the front of her mind, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“I have to go.”

* * *

Zoey was still where Joan had left her, at the buffet table.

“Hey,” the redhead greeted with a furrowed brow. “Everything alright?”

“Uh, sure, if you count my aunt and uncle interfering in my love life.” Joan poured herself a generous glass of scotch, before downing it, pulling Zoey’s plate from her hand to dump it on the table, and begin leading Zoey towards the door. “We have to leave.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with why you were yelling at your aunt and uncle, would it?”

Joan froze at that, and blinked down at the younger woman.

“You were kinda loud.” Zoey grimaced.

At that, the older woman clenched her jaw for a long few moments. “I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have asked you to do this.”

“Joan.” Zoey reached out without thinking, running a soothing hand down the older woman’s arm. “I’m sorry this isn’t working out.”

“They seem to think you’ll leave me,” Joan said then. It came out in much the same manner she’d told Zoey all those months ago about how she’d had to beg Charlie to come back. A sudden, somewhat reluctant admission. “That was why they wanted to talk. Apparently, you’re young and pretty, and they can’t possibly understand why you’d stay with me, and I don’t even know why I’m worrying about this, because all of this is a lie anyway.”

Zoey sighed. “You’re worrying about this because it hurt, because they’re questioning your judgement when it comes to dating. I think they think I’m another Charlie. Or worse, that I’m with you just to advance my career. Which is a moot point, considering there is no us, but they don’t know that. They think they’re looking out for you, but then they bring up Charlie, and talk about me apparently leaving you for someone better.” She shook her head. “I mean, like there’s someone better than you-”

The young coder cut herself off abruptly then, eyes widening as her brain caught up to her mouth. Joan stared at her.

“How much have you had to drink?”

Zoey didn’t answer the question, not entirely sure if the older woman was serious or not.

“This was a mistake.” Joan moved towards the hall again then, leaving Zoey to follow. 

But halfway there, she was accosted by a grinning Sarah who clutched a digital camera in her hands.

“Joanie! There you are!” Sarah held the camera up eagerly. “It’s that time again!”

Joan grimaced and looked to Zoey.

“Now come on, you two! Picture time!”

They were ushered quickly into the sitting room then, where everybody else had apparently already gathered. As Sarah set the camera up on a tripod and began fiddling with the settings, Joan and Zoey slid into a gap on one side of the group. Zoey stood ever so slightly in front of Joan, right at the edge of the group. She could just see the older woman in her peripheral vision.

“I- I wouldn’t, you know.” Zoey’s voice was quiet, even as she turned her head to talk to Joan.

Joan frowned. “Wouldn’t what?”

“Leave you.” Zoey swallowed. “I meant what I said, about wanting what’s best for you. A-and, if we were- hypothetically- in a relationship, I would never treat you how Charlie treated you.”

The brunette was silent for a long moment. “Good to know.”

But just as Zoey turned back to face the camera, Joan spoke again.

“Why would you want me?”

Her voice was quiet, soft, and fragile in a way Zoey wasn’t sure she’d heard before, and she couldn’t help but glance up at the woman. It was Joan’s turn to swallow, then.

“If we _were_ in a relationship,” Joan murmured, “why would you _possibly_ want me?”

Zoey thought for a moment. What could she possibly say? Her mind was racing with memories and thoughts and feelings, from their night out so many months ago to the texts and phone calls they’d shared since. Their little jokes, the smirk Joan seemed to save only for her, lunches they’d shared in the guise of discussing work. The way Joan had wrapped her arm around her at her father’s funeral and Zoey hadn’t wanted to let go of her when she left. The way she missed having Joan around the office on a regular basis, and how her heart ached on the days she got there to find Joan’s office empty. The way she’d felt when Joan had asked her to pretend to be her date for the party, and the way she’d felt just minutes before when Joan revealed that her family thought she’d break Joan’s heart.

She turned her head to meet Joan’s gaze.

“Because I think I’m in love with you.”

Joan’s eyes were wide, her expression cautious and... hopeful?

“Are we still talking hypothetically, or...?”

Zoey shook her head. “Joan. I...” She licked her lips. “I want to kiss you.”

Joan let out a breath, before her lips quirked ever so slightly into the beginnings of the smirk she reserved only for the young woman in front of her. “Then do it.”

And suddenly, Zoey was turning her body, lifting up onto her toes to reach Joan’s lips. The older woman ducked down just slightly and the pair met halfway, lips locking as Joan’s arms went to Zoey’s hips to hold her steady.

Several feet away, there was a _click_ as the camera finally took the shot.


End file.
